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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

J. L. SHEPPARD, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-B Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 69.849, dated October 15,1869.

To all whom it may concern: p

Be it known that I, J. L. SHEPPARD, of Charleston, in the district of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Tie for Bale-Hoops; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to anew and improved tie or lock for connecting together the ends of bale-hoops after the bale has beenproperly compressed.

The object of the invention is to obtain a tie or lock for the purpose specified which will admit of the ends of the loop being readily connected together, and which will also admit of bales being re-pressed without detaching the hoops from the bale, or the tie or look from the ends of the hoops.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of my invention applied to the ends of a hoop on a bale, and shown in the position it occupies after the bale is removed from the press. Fig. 2 is also a vertical section of the same, taken in the line .fr x, Fig. 3, and shown in the position it occupies when applied to a bale in the press and not relieved of pressure 3 Fig. 3, aface or front view of the same in the same position as shown in Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A A represent the ends of a metal bale hoop, to one end, A, of which a tie or lock, B, is attached. This tie or lock is composed of a metal plate having at one end an opening, a., through which the end A of the hoop is passed, and secured by being bent or doubled, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

The tie or lock has two slits or slots, c a, punched through it, which form a loop, b, through which the other end, A', of the loop is passed. The end A is passed through the loop b, when the tie or lock is turned down over the outer surface of the end A, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3; and when the end A is passed through loop b as far as it is allowed to go, said end A is bent inward at the point ax, and the tie or lock being partially turned up and the bale relieved of pressure, the tie or look will, under the expansion of the bale, be drawn up parallel with the side of the bale, as shown in the drawings, Fig. l, and the loop or bent end of A be behind the tie or lock.

In re-pressing bales, the tie or look, after the bale has been subjected to a requisite press ure in the press, is turned down to the point shown in Fig.2, the end A of the hoop straightened down, so that it may be shoved through the loop as the bale is compressed. When the bale is fully compressed, the end A of the hoop is turned up as before, and also the tie or lock.

The plate or lock B, by its end adjoining the slots a.' a', presses upon the bent end ot' the hoop A andholds it securely in position, and

the greater the amount of tension upon the loop the greater the pressure will be upon the loops of the hoops A A. lt will thus be seen that the plate performs an important feature in holding the band securely.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to seeure by Letters Patent, is-

A tie or look for metal bale-hoops,eomposed of a metal plate, perforated, as shown, at a., provided with loop b, slots a a', and bent portion of the plate 0,1.0 admit of the attachment of the ends of the hoop, as shown, and the turning up or down of the tie or look while one end ofthe hoop is passed through its loop b, and the drawing up or down of the tie or look parallel with the side of the bale under the expansion of the same when relieved of the pressure, substantially as set forth.

J. L. sHEPPAED.

Witnesses WM. F. MCNAMARA, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

